(not) seeing red

Another thing to add to the list of things we ought to be getting right by now…

There was a generally excellent HOC club championships at Stourport on Sunday. At the post-match do, Barry Houghton was poring over the map, trying to find the controls he’d missed. What made it harder for Barry, then and during the race, is that he’s colourblind. Put a red number on a green background (e.g. #75 on the race map) and he’s got very little chance of spotting its existence. Obviously this is something that the rest of us need to be reminded about, so it needs to go in the controller’s checklist if it isn’t there already:

1. Put control numbers clear of map details that they will obscure and/or be obscured by.

2. Check the overprint colour. Condes appears to be the worst offender, with the default (?) colour containing too much red. The correct colour should be darker and purpler.

Here’s some photos from the event. Congratulations to Ashley Ford, Alex Morgan and Rachel Dearden on being this year’s “main” champions. Alex beat last year’s men’s open champion, Romualdas Stupelis, by one second!